The bell dismissing class rang.
"Class dismissed." The moment Old Zhou finished speaking, everyone in the classroom sprang into action.
"Bathroom break!"
"Anyone need the bathroom?"
"Let's go, let's go!"
Amidst the chaos, Shen Yuan returned to his seat.
Shen Yuan's seat was in the middle of the row, while Li Zhi sat in the innermost seat.
The moment class was over, the girl started playing on her phone.
That's how it was in the honors class—grades were all that mattered.
As long as your grades were good enough, you could walk right up to the teacher's podium and charge your phone in front of them, and no one would say a word.
Li Zhi was engrossed in her phone, scrolling through some mind-numbing clickbait, when she suddenly sensed someone leaning in next to her.
She looked up, her expression blank, to see Shen Yuan grinning mischievously. "Li Zhi, I've recently learned a bit of fortune-telling. Want me to read your face?"
The corner of Li Zhi's mouth lifted into a mocking smirk. "What a coincidence, I've picked up some fortune-telling skills myself. And what, exactly, do you count for?"
'A bit aggressive there, aren't we?'
Shen Yuan reached out, pressed his hand on her head, and said with mock seriousness, "From reading your face, I can tell you'll still be single at thirty-five."
Li Zhi sneered and slapped his hand away. "And I predict you'll live a long life—and be six feet under by thirty-five."
Instead of getting angry, Shen Yuan looked genuinely touched. "Are you saying you'll be my grieving widow?"
Li Zhi rolled her eyes and retorted, "Why don't you drop dead first? Then we'll see if I'm up for it."
Shen Yuan admitted defeat.
'I can't win this roast battle. No chance at all.'
"Alright, fine. What I actually wanted to ask was... got anything to eat? I'm starving!"
The corners of Li Zhi's lips curved into a sly smile as she raised her palm. "How about a slap from a beautiful girl? You want a taste of that?"
'Such a fair little hand, with fingers so long and slender... I bet getting slapped by it would feel amazing.'
Shen Yuan looked at that pretty little hand and couldn't help but gulp.
Li Zhi pulled her hand back with a look of disgust, then reached into her desk and tossed a small pastry to Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan acted like he'd struck gold. He held the small pastry in both hands, gave Li Zhi a dramatic bow, then tore open the wrapper and took a large bite.
"I love you, babe. Here, have some of mine."
With that, Shen Yuan pulled a bag of Want Want Milk Cookies out of his desk.
"This should help you... fill out."
To be fair, Li Zhi wasn't exactly 'small'.
But Shen Yuan just had to be a little shit.
Li Zhi didn't stand on ceremony. Why turn down free food?
'It's not like he'd drug the cookies, right?'
Just as Li Zhi popped one of the cookies into her mouth, Shen Yuan was about to make another smart-ass remark, but a sudden "DING!" sounded in his mind.
[Mission Complete!]
[Treat Li Zhi, whom you haven't seen in a long time, to a meal. Reward: 1,000 yuan. (Completed)]
'Oho, it's already done?'
'Do these cookies count as a meal?'
Shen Yuan didn't dwell on it. He immediately pulled out his phone to check his bank balance.
And sure enough, it was up by 1,000 yuan.
While Shen Yuan was pondering this, the system before his eyes issued another mission.
[You met with your childhood friend, Li Zhi, again. The old sharp-tongued rivalry between you is gone. After catching up on each other's lives, you paid for the meal.]
[Overall, it was a pleasant-enough blind date. But you suddenly realize you don't have each other's contact info yet.]
[Exchange contact information with Li Zhi. Reward: 500 yuan.]
'A new mission!'
Shen Yuan looked at the mission before him and raised an eyebrow.
'Contact info... now that I think about it, I really don't have hers.' Ever since he'd "graciously set her free to accumulate his own good karma," Li Zhi had deleted him from both QQ and WeChat.
An absolute severing of ties.
She'd deleted him in their second year of high school and never added him back.
Thinking of this, Shen Yuan presented his WeChat QR code in front of Li Zhi.
Li Zhi looked at Shen Yuan's phone, baffled. "What are you doing?"
Shen Yuan grinned. "Add me, beautiful."
"Don't you already have my contact?" Li Zhi asked, confused.
"Didn't you delete me!"
Seeing his completely matter-of-fact expression, Li Zhi opened WeChat and dubiously scanned his QR code.
"BEEP!"
When she saw Shen Yuan's username, the corner of Li Zhi's mouth twitched.
NoCilantro (Full-Time Exam Prep Ver.).
'So we really aren't friends anymore.'
"I feel like adding you will contaminate my friends list," Li Zhi said, hesitating to tap the "Add" button.
Shen Yuan chuckled. "What am I, a source of pollution?"
"Yes."
"Hurry up. I'll buy you a fried chicken cutlet at lunch."
The moment she heard "fried chicken cutlet," Li Zhi's eyes lit up. "With plum powder and chili, and a Coke."
"You got it. I'll even throw in a sausage."
Li Zhi immediately tapped "Add Friend."
A friend request from Li Zhi then popped up on Shen Yuan's phone. When he saw her username, he cracked up.
HeresAPunch.
'A punch from a beautiful girl... I kinda want to see what that's like.'
After Shen Yuan accepted the friend request, the system's voice in his mind sounded again.
[Mission Complete!]
[Exchange contact information with Li Zhi. Reward: 500 yuan. (Completed)]
Shen Yuan glanced at his phone. Sure enough, another 500 yuan.
'Not bad at all.'
'I just made 1,500 yuan with barely any effort.'
'Mom never has to worry about my allowance again.'
Shen Yuan cheerfully put away his phone, which made Li Zhi, who was watching from the side, frown.
'Didn't we just add each other on WeChat? Is he really that happy about it?'
'He's not going to do something weird with my contact info, is he?'
'Anyone else wouldn't be that creepy, but with Shen Yuan, you could never be sure.'
For a moment, Li Zhi had a strong urge to delete him all over again.
Just then, Shen Yuan suddenly leaned his head close to Li Zhi, tilted his neck and asked, "Were you just thinking of deleting me?"
Li Zhi immediately denied it. "No!"
"Good."
Shen Yuan whispered rapidly, "I'm going to be stalking your profile. Forever and ever. Relentlessly."
"Creep."
Just as Shen Yuan was about to retort, the system popped up to cause trouble again—oh, wait, no, to give him money.
[You've finally reconnected with your childhood friend. Thinking about how you'll lose touch again after the college entrance exams, why not chat with her a little more and get to know her better?]
[Send Li Zhi twenty messages. Reward: 500 yuan.]
Looking at the system's mission, Shen Yuan whipped out his phone and spammed Li Zhi's WeChat with twenty consecutive stickers.
[Image: I'm going to be stalking your profile. Forever and ever. Relentlessly.jpg]
Staring at the endless stream of Chiikawa stickers flooding her phone screen, Li Zhi began to regret adding Shen Yuan.
[Mission Complete!]
[Send Li Zhi twenty messages. Reward: 500 yuan. (Completed)]
'Hee hee, 500 yuan in the bank!'
The feeling of his personal piggy bank getting fatter made Shen Yuan ecstatic.
"Li Zhi, I changed my mind. I'll treat you to KFC for lunch!"
"Oh yeah? Send me 50 bucks first, let's see if you're for real."
The next moment, Li Zhi saw a red envelope pop up in the chat box.
At first, Li Zhi assumed it was a prank, like a 0.01 yuan transfer, but when she tapped it open, it was actually 50 yuan!
"Whoa, you actually sent it?"
Shen Yuan smirked. "Talk is cheap."